Kim Kardashian is launching a non-public fairness agency to accumulate stakes in fast-growing media and shopper corporations, aiming to transform her stardom and affect with 329 million Instagram followers into monetary returns.
The brand new firm, SKKY Companions, is a collaboration between the truth TV star turned enterprise mogul and Jay Sammons, a former Carlyle Group govt who carved out a distinct segment for himself by investing in celebrity-backed ventures.
This displays the rising monetary sophistication of a era of artists, who welcomed viewers fragmentation and the rise of on-line platforms as a possibility to monetize their private manufacturers with out ceding worth to old style media corporations that after served as guards.
Sammons is a pioneer of this technique. At Carlyle, he took a multibillion-dollar non-public fairness agency into the uncharted world of present enterprise, reaping distinctive returns from star-studded offers, together with an funding in headphone maker Beats by Dre.
However its 2019 acquisition of a stake in Massive Machine Information sparked controversy when one of many label’s largest stars, Taylor Swift, complained that the deal had given management of grasp recordings of six of its multi-platinum albums to a person she thought of herself. Némésis, the musical director Scooter Braun.
Sammons’ newest enterprise aligns him with a household that offered a gentle stream of superstar drama after he shot to fame in 2007 with the hit actuality present maintaining with the Kardashians.
Since then, they’ve confirmed adept at monetizing their means so as to add superstar shine to mainstream manufacturers, together with shapewear model Skims and KKW, a make-up model that cosmetics maker Coty has invested in for a $1 valuation. billion {dollars} in 2020.
SKKY introduced his arrival in a tweet, stating that his “goal industries embrace shopper merchandise, digital & e-commerce, shopper media, hospitality & luxurious”. The agency gave few different particulars and didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
No funds have but been raised to make the deliberate investments, in line with the Wall Road Journal, which revealed that Kardashian’s mom, Kris Jenner, can even be related.
However different corporations have examined the institutional demand for consumer-focused celebrity-backed investments and have seen some success.
Marcy Enterprise Companions, an organization co-founded by rapper Jay-Z, started elevating cash for a second institutional fund final yr with a goal of $200 million, in line with securities filings.
One other celebrity-backed firm, Casa Verde Capital, has invested in merchandise starting from fintech platforms to cannabis-infused snacks. The corporate’s web site highlights its relationship with rapper Snoop Dogg, whom it describes as “a distinguished icon blazing a path in popular culture” and “a key member of the . . . staff answerable for to form the identification of the corporate.
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